Get Mad At The Players Not The Manager

17 September 2011 06:19

Hibs can't buy a win despite being two goals up. Ivan Sproule feels the frustrations of the Hibs fans are being mis-directed and should be aimed at the players rather than manager. Some of the travelling fans in the crowd turned on Colin Calderwood after the game which ended in a 2-2 draw but Sproule insists their frustrations were misplaced. Hibs were two goals up at East End Park before losing that lead two minutes are their second goal. Sproule could have come off with an ankle injury but put the visitors ahead in the 37th-minute before striker Garry O'Connor doubled Hibs lead six minutes after the break. His celebrations included removing his shirt to reveal a T-shirt which read "Only God will judge me". Unfortunately for him, one of His representatives was on hand to book O'Connor for the display. Dunfermline midfielder Ryan Thomson pulled a goal back a minute later before Paul Hanlon deflected Jason Thomson's effort into his own net. Sproule said: "The manager will come in for criticism but it is the 11 players on the park. If the fans want to vent their frustrations at anybody, vent it at the players, me included, because we are the ones out on the park and at the minutes we are ones at the bottom of the league. The gaffer is not the one giving the ball away, he is not playing up front or in goals. It comes down to the team. The gaffer is doing his job to 110 per cent of his ability. We threw it away again. It has been a tough start to the season for us. Maybe we thought we had the three points when we went 2-0 up but we gave away a sloppy goal and that was it. So it was a deflated dressing room, you can't deny it. There's no player at this minute who can say, 'I'm not to blame'. Everybody who is playing in a Hibernian shirt is to blame for the poor start to the season. There are no hiding places. We are bottom of the league for a reason. We have been making too many mistakes and it is time to man-up." Calderwood claimed he did not hear the Hibs fans at the end of the game. He did explain a surprising double substitution made on the hour mark when his side were leading 2-1. Top scorer O'Connor and Leigh Griffiths were replaced by Akpo Sodje and Junior Agogo respectively, but the double substitution seemed to quickly backfire when the Pars equalised. Calderwood said: "We needed fresh legs up front. They were allowing their back four out far too easily. I was delighted with his goal but O'Connor was on a booking and we had to contest forward balls. They understand that we have another two games this week and I don't envisage any problems, for me it is normal practice. We had firepower on the bench and we must use them. I think Dunfermline thoroughly deserved to get the equalising goal, if I'm honest." Dunfermline manager Jim McIntyre thought his side should have ended up with all three points. McIntyre said: "I thought we deserved to win, on the balance of play and the chances created. We had a couple of great chances with headers and we have not managed to hit the target. It was important to get the first goal back quickly, that was a crucial moment. Any time you are 2-0 (behind) in the SPL then 2-2 is a good result. I am really proud of the players, they showed an abundance of character."